


All That Matters

by UmiHinode



Series: The Story is Eternal [5]
Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Study, Established Relationship, Friendship, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 01:31:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15132134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UmiHinode/pseuds/UmiHinode
Summary: Change doesn't happen overnight, though they can pretend for a while longer.





	All That Matters

_"Come on, Mikado!"_

A young Ryuugamine Mikado had two options. One, he could stay inside the comfort of his home and be back in bed before he knew it. It  _was_  a school night, and the middle of the night at that. Two, he could sneak out his window and join an overly eager Kida Masaomi on a most likely dangerous and/or stupid mission that would surely get them in some sort of trouble.

This wasn't the first time it had happened, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. And every single time, Mikado climbed down and met Masaomi, unable to hold back a smile at his best friend's pure glee. Even if it meant getting in trouble, he'd do it a thousand times over if it meant seeing that grin.

Though, Mikado  _was_  Mikado after all.

_"Masaomi, are you sure this is a good idea?"_

_"Of course I am!"_  Masaomi boasted, slamming his fist against his chest, resulting in an unfortunate coughing fit.  _"You can't go back_ now! _C'mon, it'll be fun!"_

Maybe it was. Maybe, despite some minor hiccups along the way, Masaomi dragging him outside of his comfort zone had always been worth it. Mikado was a rather sheltered kid, not even going on school field trips, confining himself to their little old hometown in the middle of nowhere.

Maybe that was why he had followed Masaomi to Ikebukuro, because Masaomi had never steered him wrong before.

Headless fairies, color gangs, an informant with far too much time on his hands, and a man who could throw vending machines only scratched the surface of what Ikebukuro had in store for him. It was everything of his dreams, and his nightmares, and he was entranced. It didn't take long for Ikebukuro to become home, for its abnormalities to become normal.

_"If you truly want to escape the everyday, you must constantly evolve."_

Maybe Orihara Izaya's advice for him had been the beginning of the end.

In the blink of an eye, everything had changed. Masaomi, with the yellow scarf dyed with blood around his neck. Anri, with her glowing red eyes and demonic sword in hand. Mikado, Masaomi's old friend, and newest enemy as the leader of the Dollars. Their meeting in the warehouse set in stone a chain of events no one could have foreseen, that extended far beyond the trio and engulfed the strange little city they called home.

In the beginning, things had been perfect. They were an unbreakable trio, always together, their feelings never wavering. Mikado had never imagined that they all had their own secrets, not until that moment, as he cradled Masaomi in his arms, fighting back tears at the thought of losing him, knowing that he had been oblivious to even his best friend's struggles.

And just like that, he was gone. The everyday life that had been the three of them changed, yet Ikebukuro remained the same. Still, home felt a little less like home without him there.

 _"Masaomi will come back,"_  Mikado had said.  _"So when he does, let's get mad at him. Let's laugh and get really mad at him!"_

Anri smiled in reply.  _"The two of us, together."_

Slowly, Mikado's conviction began to shatter. In the beginning, he was certain Masaomi would return. He had to. But it didn't take long for "when" to become "if", as the secrets the three of them shared festered, growing stronger with each passing day.  _Will our lost everyday life ever return to us?_ He had to wonder. He wouldn't rest until that "if" became a "when" once again. If he could have restarted the flow of time, perhaps he would have.

Or maybe, he didn't have to. Out of the blue, Masaomi had returned. He was home, Mikado told himself. He was home, he was home, he was home.

Yet, he wasn't.

_"Sorry, Masaomi. I want you to wait just a little longer."_

_"Wait for what? What do you mean?"_

_"I'm almost there...I'm this close to making it. A place for you and Sonohara-san to come home to. So I want you to wait til then. I promise...that I'll save you and Sonohara-san. So until then, I think I'd be better not to see each other yet."_

In that moment, he couldn't have recognized Masaomi's fear. How ominous even his tiny giggle was at his friend's ignorance. How terrifying it must have been for the roles to be reversed; for Masaomi to now see Mikado covered in blood, to have seen him ready to kill, compared to that night in the warehouse.

He had turned the "if" to "when", and "when" to reality, but he wasn't done.

_"Mikado...where did you get that?"_

He studied the gun in his hands with a complete lack of emotion.  _"A lot's happened."_

 _"What is it you want to do? Waving around something like that... what the hell do you want to do with the Dollars?"_  Masaomi demanded, his voice cracking in desperation.  _"I'm so damned pathetic! You're my friend, and I can't even tell what it is you want to do right now!"_

He understood now. The tables had turned, and now Masaomi understood Mikado's own frustration from that night, what seemed like all those years ago.

_"Don't worry. It's not your fault, Masaomi. These are the seeds I've sown, so the Dollars ends today."_

_"You mean you're disbanding them?"_

Mikado shrugged.  _"That's not what I mean, actually. But I guess that'd be the end result? Anyway, the sight of people gathering as the Dollars one last time, what the Dollars are exactly...I wanted you and Sonohara-san to see it."_

 _"Is this what you wanted, then?"_ Masaomi asked softly.

_"At first, it gave me more of a thrill. But not anymore. That got me thinking...that I should turn it into a place where I could welcome you and Sonohara-san. To welcome you with my head held high into the Dollars that I'd created."_

_"Then what do you mean, it's all gonna end?"_

Masaomi froze at the mercy of the gun, but his resolve was too strong.

_"I'm gonna drag you right back into that ordinary life you hate so much!"_

A single gunshot.

 _"You_ idiot!" Masaomi shouted, fist colliding with Mikado's face over and over again, tears streaming down his own. " _A place where we could come home to? What good would that do if you can't come back with us?"_

Mikado knew he was right, but he couldn't stop. He didn't deserve to be home with them, after everything he did. There was no cliche happy ending waiting for him; only darkness. He would have succumbed, had it not been for Celty.

But there  _was_ a cliche happy ending; a happy ending that the real Ryuugamine Mikado would have fought for. Masaomi knew that. Anri had to have known as well. Ordinary, extraordinary; none of it mattered. The reality was that, as he awoke in the hospital later that day, Masaomi and Anri were there waiting. They reached their hands out to him, and he accepted without hesitation. He couldn't dwell on the matter that they were even willing to accept him. All he could do was sob. At long last, they were together, and that was all that mattered.

. . .

"I'm going back to Raira."

Masaomi watched as Mikado's face lit up, and accepted his friend's hand as he reached for him. "Masaomi, that's great!"

Uncharacteristically sheepish, Masaomi was silent for a moment, and Saki spoke in his place, startling the two as she appeared in the doorway behind them. "I'm going too."

"Saki," Masaomi leered, his voice taking one of his stranger tones for the first time in what seemed like forever. "You really shouldn't sneak up on us like that." When Saki dismissed him with a simple smile, he faced Mikado once more. "We'll have to wait until the year's over. We can be second years together, though, unlike poor Saki."

Saki shrugged. "It is what it is. It'll be a good change of pace."

Masaomi smiled and gestured for her to sit beside him, taking her hand in his as she did so.

It was almost comical how natural this was, talking about school after everything that had happened, especially when they were still seated in a hospital room. In a way, it had been how it had all started, with Masaomi inviting Mikado to join him at Raira. Masaomi couldn't get over the strangeness of it all, knowing that he would be going back after all this time, no longer in the palm of Izaya's hand; Saki, too.

In a few short months, they would just be normal high school students. No Dollars, no Yellow Scarves, no Orihara Izaya. Just the four of them, as it should be.

"Sorry I'm late!" Anri bowed her head as the three turned to face her, collectively smiling at her entrance. There was a spare chair on the opposite side of Mikado's bed, and Anri seated herself there, setting her schoolbag down beside her. Masaomi watched as Mikado turned to face her, and how she stared down at her lap, intertwining her fingers.

"How was school?" He asked casually, though Anri still jumped, just a bit.

"The same as always," she replied softly. "It's not as fun without you two there." Meeting Saki's gaze, she attempted to think of something to say, but Saki cut her off before she could.

"Don't try and apologize. It's okay."

Seeing Anri and Saki smile at one another in understanding was almost enough to let Masaomi die happy, right then and there.

This was what his daily life had become. Every day, without fail, he and Saki would visit Mikado, and once Anri was out of school, she would join them. It was almost a satisfying enough conclusion to the disaster that had taken their everyday lives by storm. Things were peaceful.

Though, they had still failed to have a proper talk.

 _Once Mikado has fully recovered,_ Masaomi would tell himself.  _Then we can talk._

The cycle continued.

That wasn't to say that this was a false sense of peace that they shared. After all, change doesn't happen overnight, though they can pretend for a while longer. Just until Mikado was released. Aside from that, they were done faking, done pretending.

"Well," Masaomi began, rising from his seat and relaxing his arms behind his head. "I think we'll leave you two lovebirds alone for a bit."

Mikado and Anri exchanged glances, and their terrified expressions almost made them mirror images. "L-Lovebirds?!"

_They really are perfect for each other._

Without another word, Masaomi twirled around out of the room, Saki following close behind, closing the door as she left. Masaomi waited for her not far ahead, and gingerly intertwined their fingers before they exited the hospital, side by side.

. . .

"I want to go back to Raira," Masaomi had said; casually, as they unpacked their bags inside their brand new apartment. Saki's back was turned to him, and though she didn't face him, she did stop what she was doing.

There was a pause, and when Masaomi didn't follow up, Saki prompted, "And?"

"And...I'm a little nervous."

"That's understandable," she replied, resuming her organizing.

Masaomi blinked. "You don't think I'm being stupid?"

Saki shook her head. "It's been almost two years. Like I said, it's understandable."

"I...I'm just done running," Masaomi continued. "I'm done being a coward, but here I am anyway."

With his back now turned, Masaomi flinched as he felt arms wrap around his neck. Giggling, Saki said, almost in a whisper, "If you think it's a flaw..."

"Then fix it," he finished, managing a smile.

Saki released her hold on him, and the two sat facing one another, their belongings temporarily forgotten. "What if I go with you?"

"Really?"

With a nod, Saki replied, "Well, it'll be pretty lonely without you around. And if we're going to be fixing our flaws...well, I guess I could start with going to high school."

"We are gonna need jobs, though, especially now that we're not working for that bastard..."

Saki reached her hand out to him. "We'll figure something out."

He wasn't sure that his worries would ever disappear, but for now, he could rest easy, with his love at his side. He could only pray that the next time something happened, should there be a next time, he wouldn't run away. He wouldn't abandon Saki, or Mikado and Anri, ever again.

In the beginning, he had blamed himself. Called himself a coward. He should have returned earlier, he kept telling himself. Maybe then, Mikado wouldn't have changed. But for a while, none of that mattered.

He was home.

. . .

April came before anyone knew it. A new school year had begun at Raira Academy, and for the first time in two years, Anri, Mikado, and Masaomi were truly together again; with the addition of Saki, of course.

Finally, they could sit up on the rooftop once more as if nothing had happened, though the sentiment didn't last long.

"I believe we have a conversation to finish," Masaomi announced, plopping himself down in between Mikado and Anri. "Mikado, care to start?"

Mikado flinched, nervously twitching until Anri shot him a comforting smile. "Actually...Sonohara-san and I made a promise."

Masaomi looked towards both of them for answers, lingering on a giggling Anri. "Anri..?"

Without warning, Anri rose from her seat, inhaling and exhaling before saying in perhaps the loudest tone any of her friends had heard, "I can't believe you left us like that, Kida-kun!" Because it was Anri, however, even her anger was meek, and she, unfortunately, wasn't a gifted actress.

Soon after, Mikado joined her, placing his hands on his hips. "How dare you! We could've had this talk forever ago, but you left!"

The two exchanged glances, and laughed to themselves, leaving a dazed Masaomi caught in the middle.

"Right when we could have gotten closer," Mikado began, confident, though only for a moment. "you left. Right after we almost lost you...you left..."

Tears welled up in Mikado's eyes, and it didn't take long for Anri to find herself tearing up as well, remembering how much it had hurt some days, remembering how she had wished that they could have just talked instead of hiding. Far too choked up, Anri managed to get out, "Kida-kun, we missed you."

He would never openly admit it, but Anri knew Masaomi was a sap at heart himself, especially as he stood up and embraced his two sobbing friends, joining them in their crying.

"Don't worry. I'll never leave you again."

Laughing, Mikado replied, "You better not."

Together, the trio sat back down, and surprisingly, Anri was the first to suggest they discuss their secrets.

"I'm liking this confidence, Anri," Masaomi teased. "I didn't think it was possible, but your ero-cute levels are through the roof."

Saki and Mikado harmonized as they leered, "Masaomi..."

"My heart might belong to Saki, but I will always be able to appreciate Anri's charm," Masaomi boldly proclaimed, pressing his hand to his chest dramatically.

Anri reasoned she could always appreciate his charm as well, and it managed to get a laugh out of Saki at least.

Without preamble, Anri said, "I am one of the wielders of a demonic sword named Saika."

That got everyone's attention.

Blushing, she continued. "I did a few unsavory things with Saika...like possessing some of the members of the Yellow Scarves. That was how I found out that Kida-kun was the leader." To Masaomi directly, she said, "I was the one at the hideout that night."

"Well, the cat's out of the bag," Masaomi chuckled. "I was the leader of the Yellow Scarves, even when I knew Mikado was the leader of the Dollars. And I ran, not once, but twice. But never again. I promise."

Mikado took a moment to continue. "I...was the leader of the Dollars, and Blue Square for a while. I did terrible things, the Dollars and Blue Square did terrible things, and I don't expect any of you to forgive me. I was selfish, and got too caught up chasing the extraordinary."

Masaomi's playful demeanor vanished with the mention of the latter gang, and Anri could only imagine what him and Mikado were thinking as they faced one another. Somewhere far off in her mind was the gunshot that haunted her nevertheless.

"You all did things you aren't proud of," Saki chimed in. "But what matters is that you acknowledge those flaws and are trying to make things right."

"Saki!" Masaomi whined. "You stole our moment!"

Saki grinned. "Don't forget, I'm a part of this too."

Anri and Mikado nodded in unison, and Masaomi sighed dramatically, stuck in between them.

Things might have turned out differently, but none of them had the power to turn back time.

Anri supposed she was alright with that.

After all, people meet, and people part, and that's what makes the reunion all the more satisfying.

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while, huh? Sorry about that everyone… Things have been really busy for me lately, and writing has been pretty tough. I hadn't been anywhere near as inspired as I wanted to be for a while, which is why this took so long. I finally managed to get my hands on the first volume of the Re;Dollars manga now that it's out in English (finally!), and I fell in love all over again. That was really all I needed, all that passion for Durarara to come back to me.
> 
> I'll admit I was a little self indulgent with this. Fortunately I've already established that this is a divergence from SH, so I could have some artistic freedom. I would have loved for Masaomi and Saki to go back to Raira in canon! That aside, I'm definitely not done with the Raira trio (or I suppose it's the Raira quartet now!) yet! I'm trying to figure out how to rework Symbiosis, and I have a few other ideas I'd love to write. If there's anyone I wanted to get their happy ending in this series, it was the Raira trio. They need a break after everything they've been through.
> 
> Now, on the subject of updates… They probably won't be frequent for a while. Sorry, everyone. I'm going to try my best to get as much as I can out before I start school again, but I can't make any promises. I have a lot of ideas I want to write out, though, so hopefully I'll be able to finish some. Right now I have plans for Namie, Varona, the Van Gang, and the twins. I also have something planned for Ikebukuro's most dangerous couple, that should hopefully be out on the 16th...
> 
> Thank you so much for your patience over the past few months, and thank you for your continued support! I'll hopefully see you again on the 16th (maybe earlier!), but if I don't, any updates will be in the series notes as always. See you next time! ♥


End file.
